2019 WOC Team Selection and Team Trials Rules

Review Panel

The Review Panel that will be selecting the WOC Team and deciding race assignments will be: (TBA)

Team Trials Scoring (to come)

Team Selection/Team Trials Rulesv. 12/26/2018Changes other than dates are shown in bold italics.

Events Timeline

2018

December 27

Regional Champs — North American Orienteering Championships, Yukon, CanadaApplication and signed Athlete’s Agreement submission deadline for consideration for the Sr. Elite, Performance, and Development teams. (Applications will be accepted after that date.)

2019

January 10

Sr. Elite, Performance, and Development squads announced

March 31

Declaration of Intent submission deadline for WOC 2019

Team Trials

The Team Trials will be held 26-28 April 2019 during the West Point Orienteering Meet

1 week post-TT

WOC 2019 Team announced with specific athlete/race assignments

2 weeks post-TT

Signed Athlete's Agreement submission deadline if not currently on the National Team

WOC National Spots

For WOC 2019 the IOF announced a new format of forest WOC and urban WOC which will occur in alternating years. Forest WOC will be held in 2019 and urban WOC will be held in 2020. The forest WOC will consist of a middle qualification, middle final, long final, and relay. Urban WOC will consist of sprint qualification, sprint final, sprint relay, and a sprint knockout tournament.

Number of Entries for forest WOC

Middle Qual

Middle Final

Long

Relay

Total WOCStarts

Women

3 + 1 regionalqualifierMax. 4

By qualification

1–3 based onteamallocation +1 regionalqualifierMax. 4

1 team of 3

7–11

Men

3 + 1 regionalqualifierMax. 4

By qualification

1–3 based onteamallocation +1 regionalqualifierMax. 4

1 team of 3

7–11

Note: U.S. men's and women's teams are currently in tier 3, which means each team gets 1 entry into the Long plus the regional qualifer.

WOC Personal Spots

Automatic spots were awarded from NAOC 2018 to Morten Jorgensen for the men's Long, Anton Salmenkyla for the men's Middle Qualification, and Ali Crocker for the women's Long.

WOC 2019 Selection Policy

Overview

The makeup of the U.S. Team to the World Orienteering Championships (the WOC Team) is based primarily on the results of a team selection competition (the Team Trials) held during the period 2 to 4 months before the WOC. This competition can be held as part of a national event (A-meet), or it can be a separate event, subject to the regulations of a normal national event, except that only the M21 and F21 categories are required. Designation of a meet as the Team Trials will be made jointly by the Team ESC and the Sanctioning Committee. The meet must be, at a minimum, open to all persons eligible to represent the USA at the WOC. The Team Trials for forest WOC will have at least a middle and a long race and may include a head-to-head individual relay event.

Team Trials Selection Races

Forest WOC

Starting in 2019, then 2021 and every other year after that, forest WOC will consist of a middle qualification, middle final, long, and relay.

Selection Methods for both Men and Women

Middle Distance

1 race

1–2 automatic qualifiers based on placing. (Note the second automatic qualifier will only be chosen in the case where there is no individual relay event.)

Other spots based on regional qualifiers and designated by committee.

Long Distance

1 race

1 automatic qualifier

Other spots based on regional qualifiers and designated by committee.

Relay (optional but not required)

1 race: head-to-head single person relay with forking

1 automatic qualifier (in the case that this race takes place)

Team designated by committee including alternate; running order designated by team leader

Note: Any athlete at Trials who has declared their intent to compete at WOC including regional qualifiers will be included in the competition for the automatic qualifer spots. In the cases where the winners of the race are regional qualifiers or winners from any other trial race win, the automatic spot will not go to the next person in the results. Remaining needed spots for the team will be determined by the selection committee.

Selection to the team, after automatic qualifiers and regional qualifiers are assigned to fill needed spots on the team:

Criteria for committee selection

Performance in team trials races (considering specifically performance in races where spots need to be filled)

Overall Scoring list

Pace in minutes per K in races

Overall training and health from the past year

Performance in relevant races over the course of the year

Athlete's strengths based on the needed spot to be filled.

Performance Rubric

The committee will use the following rubric as a reference for evaluating athletes when filling non-automatic qualifier spots on the WOC team. Please note that while this is a reference, the committee may make its own final decision. Athletes with 3- and 4-point scores in all categories have a better chance of being selected to fill needed spots.

Points

Team TrialsPerformance

OverallScoring List

Min/KPace

Overall Training/Health inPast Year

Race Resultsfrom PastYear

Strengths forSpecific Event

1

Finish four or more places behind auto-qualifier spot

7th or lower on overall scoring list

Pace more than 10% back form winner

3 or fewer months of healthy training

10% or less behind winners at national and regional events, or 25% or less behind winners at highly competitive events (international or world)

Physical fitness lower than top 5 of athletes in consideration for the spot based on relevant distance fitness and results in the given discipline

2

Finish three places behind auto-qualifier spot

5th or 6th in overall scoring list

Pace less than 10% back from winner

6+ months of healthy training

Within 10% of winners in national and regional races, or 20% at highly competitive events (international or world)

Physical fitness in top 5 of athletes in consideration for the spot based on relevant distance fitness and results in the given discipline

3

Finish two places behind auto-qualifier spot

3rd or 4th in overall scoring list

Pace less than 5% back of winner's time

9+ months of healthy training

Withini 7% of winners in national and regional races, or 15% at highly competitive events (international or world)

Physical fitness in top 3 of athletes in consideration for the spot based on relevant distance fitness and results in the given discipline

4

Finish in the place right behind the auto-qualifier

Top 2 in overall scoring list

Pace equal to winner, or faster

12+ months of healthy training

Within 3% of winners in national and regional races, or 10% in a highly competitive field (international or world)

Physical fitness better than all other athletes in consideration for the spot based on relevant distance fitness and results in the given discipline

Please note it is a committee decision to fill any final spots based on the needs for team and racing allocations. Committee will look at the big picture of an athlete and their strengths and weaknesses.

Emphases: Committee will choose based on best potential results at WOC and based on development of the team and overall growth of the program. In the relay, speed and head-to-head competition skills should be strong; in the Middle, 5-10k fitness and strong technical skills; in the Long, half-marathon fitness level and strong technical skill. The team can always be the minimum number of 4 in cases where it is determined the non-automatic candidates are not at the level of the auto-selected athletes.

Recommended team size, based on number of race spots

Team Allocations

Middle Qual

Long Final

Relay

Team Size foreach Gender

7

3

1

3

4

8

3 or 4

1 or 2

3

4 + alternate

9

4

2

3

5

10

4

3

3

5 + alternate

11

4

4

3

6

Team Candidacy Declaration

All athletes currently on the National Team will declare their interest in competing at WOC by March 31, 2019.

All non-National Team members must declare their eligibility and commitment to compete at WOC when registering for the Trials races. This must be done prior to the close of registration.

Review Panel

A Review Panel consisting of a minimum of three persons and a maximum of five persons will named by the ESC and approved by the OUSA VP in charge of teams. The members of the Review Panel will be listed in the meet registration information. The majority of the members of the Review Panel will have no direct affiliation with the U.S. Standing Team (ESC members, Team members or coaching staff). The Review Panel members need not be in attendance at the Team Trials if suitable arrangements (e.g. telephone, internet) can be arranged for discussion.

Petitioning Process

In order for a petitioning candidate to be eligible for the WOC team, the following requirements must be met:

The candidate must submit a petition to the ESC requesting consideration for an exception. For a candidate who competes at the Team Trials, this petition must be submitted within one hour of the competitor's reporting to the finish on the final day of the Team Trials, and explain the circumstances why he/she was not able to produce a representative result (e.g. illness, misprinted map, other organizer error, etc.). For candidates who are not planning to compete at the Team Trials, the petition must be submitted before the first start on the first day of the Team Trials, and explain why he/she was unable to attend. Specific information regarding to whom petitions should be submitted must appear in the meet invitation. Petitions must be signed by the petitioner, and may not be submitted on behalf of other people.

Petition content must include:

5k race results from within 3 months prior to the trials. Suggested minimum times of 17:30 for Men and 20:00 for Women.

Training logs for the previous 12 months either on AP or other written form.

Representative results from the previous year (i.e., April 26, 2018 to April 25, 2019) which the petitioner believes will qualify them for WOC. Suggested content includes all OUSA-sanctioned events, WRE event results, WRE ranking, previous WOC results, and race results vs. other recent WOC attendees (from any country) which could be useful for the committee in estimating likely WOC performance.

A petition may be submitted by anyone who has indicated they are a candidate for the WOC Team. The Review Panel will review all petitions and has the option of rejecting the petition. A brief explanation can be requested by any petitioner who is not selected. Keep in mind that in order for a petitioner to be placed on the WOC Team there would need to be evidence of performance superior to other candidates who competed in the Team Trials and would be displaced.

Grievance Process

The selection of individuals to the Team described herein will be the sole decision of the Review Panel. In cases where malfeasance or corruption on the part of the Review Panel is alleged, a grievance may be filed with the Orienteering USA Grievance Committee, which may call for a new Review Panel to be convened.